Nigeria has released 26 crew members, 16 of whom are Indians, from the MT Heroic Idun, an oil tanker seized by the African country since August 2022, news agency ANI reported citing sources on Sunday (June 11). The vessel, which was initially detained by Equatorial Guinea before being transferred to Nigeria, was at the centre of a legal dispute involving a number of charges, including 'oil theft' and 'false piracy' accusations levelled against the Nigerian Navy.
From the start, the Government of India raised the issue with the respective foreign authorities at various levels, through its Missions in Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, as well as in bilateral meetings. According to the sources, they were pressed for a quick resolution of the issue and the repatriation of the Indian crew members.
Following interventions with the Nigerian government, the crew was allowed to remain on board the ship with regular food instead of being transferred to a land-based detention centre. They were also allowed to communicate with their families on a regular basis. According to the sources, Indian Mission officials maintained regular contact with the crew and granted consular access on numerous occasions.
The Indian Mission collaborated with the shipping company to arrange for legal representation for the crew, sources said. It was stressed to Nigerian authorities that there had been no oil theft, that all necessary permissions had apparently been granted, and that the crew was not privy to operational decisions, according to them.
According to sources, the humanitarian issues of some of the crew members were also brought up. All charges against the crew were dropped after lengthy negotiations, and the ship was released on May 27 after paying fines. The sources said that the Indian crew members have now returned home.
All About The 'Heroic Idun' Case:
The MT Heroic Idun was a Marshall Islands-flagged very large crude carrier (VLCC) that was detained by the Nigerian Navy on August 8, 2022, while en route to load crude oil at Nigeria's Akpo Terminal. The ship was detained on suspicion of oil theft, and its 26-person crew, including 16 Indians, was arrested and detained.
The crew of the MT Heroic Idun denied any wrongdoing and claimed that they had been misidentified. As per media reports, they claimed that they were approached by an unidentified vessel that was not equipped with an automatic identification system (AIS) and that they fled the scene in fear of being attacked by pirates.
The Nigerian Navy insisted that the MT Heroic Idun was caught red-handed stealing oil and that the crew had been apprehended based on solid evidence. The evidence against the crew, on the other hand, was never made public, and the charges against them were never proven in court, The Wire reported.
The crew of the MT Heroic Idun was detained for nine months, during which they were denied legal representation and subjected to harsh conditions, according to the report. The crew of the MT Heroic Idun were finally released from detention in April 2023, after the Nigerian government dropped the charges against them, it said.